The Verdins principles for sentencing mentally impaired offenders in Victoria remain unaltered by the High Court's decision in Muldrock v The Queen. While an offender's intellectual disability may sometimes require additional weight to be given to community protection, it does not follow that in every case the court must assume the offender is incapable of rehabilitation and likely to re-offend. For arson causing death under s 197A of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), a subjective lack of appreciation of the magnitude of the risk is relevant to moral culpability even though the offence does not require specific intent to cause death.
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